SOFTBALL

Region 7A semifinal

With a couple of regional championships and a state title under their belt, the Fort Myers upperclassmen have grown quite comfortable in high-pressure situations with their season on the line.

A highly-anticipated win-or-go-home matchup of Southwest Florida’s top two teams was no different. After not making much noise offensively through six innings, the Green Wave put pressure on Estero until it broke in the seventh inning of a Class 7A regional semifinal Tuesday night.

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Members of the Fort Myers High School softball team cheer from the dugout during the Class 7A regional semifinal on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at Estero High School in Estero. Morgan Hornsby/Fort Myers News Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

Estero High School softball players wait in the dugout during the Class 7A regional semifinal on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at Estero High School in Estero. Morgan Hornsby/Fort Myers News Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

Members of the Fort Myers High School softball team cheer from the dugout during the Class 7A regional semifinal on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at Estero High School in Estero. Morgan Hornsby/Fort Myers News Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

Members of the Estero High School softball team watch from the dugout during the Class 7A regional semifinal on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at Estero High School in Estero. Morgan Hornsby/Fort Myers News Press USA TODAY NETWORK - FLORIDA

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Ryley Topliff’s right-side ground ball followed by Yanni David’s hook slide opened the floodgates in the seventh, and sent Fort Myers (26-4) to a 4-0 win, punching its ticket to a fourth straight regional championship game where it will host the winner of Wednesday’s Sunlake-Braden River game on Friday.

"They are older. The big situation, the big moment doesn't bother them as much," Greenies coach Johnny Manetta said of his club.

The Estero pitching duo of Lauren Hobbs and Alex Salter shut down Fort Myers for six innings, holding it to one hit and two total base runners until Vivian Ponn drew a leadoff walk in the seventh.

"I don't even know if we had any hits. I don't really care," Manetta said. "It's about getting on base, executing. The one thing about us this year is we're very fast. We try to put pressure on the defense. We try to make you make mistakes."

A Meghan Kline sacrifice bunt sent David, a freshman pinch-runner, to second and senior catcher Riley Ludlam followed with a bloop single to put runners at the corners.

Facing Salter, an Alabama commit, Topliff sent a grounder to Hobbs at first base who fired a throw to the plate. David’s speed to the plate and slide put just enough pressure on Wildcats catcher Carly Campbell that she couldn’t make the catch. Pinch-runner Lena Wallace followed with another run as the ball went to the backstop.

Maria Angelino and Allana Consolazio drove in two more runs to give Ponn, who scattered seven hits and struck out five, enough breathing room to set down Estero (27-4) in the bottom of the seventh.

Region 6A semifinal

North Fort Myers 2, Mariner 1

When their team needing to respond after a teammate made a critical mistake, North Fort Myers seniors Sarah Giompalo and Emma Johnson stepped to the plate.

Giompalo, the Red Knights third baseman, drove a go-ahead, two-out RBI single to right field in the fifth inning and Johnson, a Stetson signee, sat down her last eight batters to carry North Fort Myers past Mariner 2-1 to advance to its fourth straight regional final.

Mariner broke through with the game scoreless in the top of the fifth as Dee Bent lined her third hit of the night to left field, and after Red Knight left fielder Alyssa Morris misplayed the ball, Bent circled the bases to put her team ahead. The Red Knights responded the way that head coach Jeff Miner anticipated they would.

“We were fortunate. The girls picked Alyssa up,” Miner said. “Haley Weaver has been an on-base machine, she gets on in the fifth, our No. 2 hitter bunts her over and we got the big hit from Taylor Rosciti with her triple and Sarah went the opposite way. With Mariner, we’ve been even-Steven with them and fortunately for us, we got the big hits tonight.”

Rosciti, who in the fourth inning ended a potential Tritons threat with a running catch in right-center that may have prevented a run, drove a ball to deep right for a triple that scored Weaver from second with one out in the fifth. After Mariner ace Hannah Holloway struck out Johnson, Giompalo came through with an approach she had to alter with how she had been pitched by Holloway all season.

“I was ready for the inside pitch because that’s all she had been throwing to me last game, but she pitched me outside and I was just ready for it,” Giompalo said.

North Fort Myers will host one of 6A’s best. Sebring downed Lake Wales 1-0 on Friday in the 6A-3 regional final. The Red Knights will look to make a return to the Final Four, a task they accomplished in 2017.

— Bryan Cooney

Region 2A Final

Academy at the Lakes 2, Seacrest 0

Seacrest Country Day saw its season end thanks to the same pitcher for the third year in a row.

The Stingrays fell 2-0 to the Academy at the Lakes and their 2018 state player of the year, Lexi Kilfoyl.

"I’m not too disappointed. We’ve had a heck of a year,” Seacrest coach John Kruk said. “The only thing I’ve ever asked of the girls is that they compete. We’ve had to face Lexi three years in a row in the postseason, and for three straight years, she’s ended our season. I told the kids after the game that ‘Hey, we’re a bunch of eighth- and ninth-graders, and we’ve faced a potential Division I pitcher.’ We fought and we competed. If we’d come out here and laid down and died, I’d have been disappointed.

“With a pitcher like Lexi, we had to hope that we’d put the ball in play and they’d make some errors. She didn’t give us a chance to do much else. But when we did put it in play, they made the plays.”

“She was great. She pretty much matched Lexi pitch-for-pitch,” Kruk said. “She got a pitch up, and the No. 4 hitter for Academy at the Lakes hit it for a home run. I think schools are understanding that if they play us, we will compete, and play defense and get some good swings in. We will compete, no matter what the score is It’s partly because we have two pitchers who can pitch with anyone.”

It was the Academy at the Lakes’ first close game in a while. The Wildcats had won their five previous games by an aggregate of 48-5.

— Tom Corwin

Region 4A Final

Oxbridge Academy 4, Bishop Verot 1

CLOSE

Will Shea went six innings for the Cougars while striking out nine. Santino Cervone hit a home run for the Cougars, as they are one step closer to another final four.
Alexander Martin, Naples Daily News

BASEBALL

Region 3A semifinal

Canterbury 2, St. Stephens 1

Canterbury head coach Frank Turco told his players following their district championship win over SFCA to "find a way."

They ended up doing just that. The Cougars advanced past St. Stephens 2-1 thanks to a Santino Cervone home run, as well as a dominant outing from Will Shea, who went six innings and struck out nine. Shea also got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third inning, to hold the lead for the Cougars.

"Our pitching has been our mainstay all year, and it was again tonight," Turco said. "Hats off to (Brock Soletti) who pitched for them. He did a great job and kept our hitters off balance. It wasn't a pretty game, but we did the things we needed to do."

Julian Meyers opened the scoring with an RBI single that scored Cervone in the first. In the sixth inning, Wyatt Sevin laid down a sacrifice bunt that scored Mike Madigan to cut the lead in half, but Lipscomb signee Bryce Einstein shut down the Falcons in the seventh by striking out the side and picking up the save.

Turco was impressed with Shea's outing and was fortunate that he's only losing one arm for their regional final contest.

"That's a great thing for us," Turco said. "Will has been big all year. His best outing was against IMG when we needed him to throw deep into the game. He had 54 pitches through three innings, and then he pitched a complete game. He's done it when he's needed to."

Canterbury (24-5) will advance to the regional final game at home Friday, which will be against Out-of-Door Academy. St. Stephens closes its season at 18-8.

— Alex Martin

Out-of-Door 4, SFCA 3 (10 inn.)

Region 2A semifinal

Seacrest 5, Victory Christian 4

Seacrest kept chipping away at Victory Christian pitching during the middle innings of Tuesday’s Class 2A-Region 3 semifinal but had nothing to show for it. But in possibly its last chance, the Stingrays bats came through and punched their ticket to the regional finals.

Trailing 4-2 to the Storm, the Stingrays came up with alert base-running and took advantage of some errors to score three times in the bottom of the sixth en route to a 5-4 win over Victory Christian.

Justin Jackson and Andrew Geiger limited the Storm to only four hits. Yet Victory Christian managed to scratch out a 4-2 lead after 5 ½ innings before the Stingrays’ comeback.

“Victory Christian came in on fire. They were playing some of the best baseball around,” Seacrest coach Mark Marsala said. “We hurt ourselves early in this one with mistakes. Their pitching was effective. We kept fighting and piecing runs together, and we were able to steal off the catcher. We had some good base-running plays that pulled us through.”

Jackson got the win – his 10th – and extended his scoreless innings streak to 25.

“I can’t say enough about Justin,” Marsala said. “He’s been outstanding. When you get later in the game and you’re behind, you start to put momentum on the other side, because you run out of opportunities. These guys never quit, because they believe in themselves.”

The Stingrays will meet Seven Rivers Christian in the 2A-3 final on Friday. The first pitch is at 4 p.m. at Seacrest.